Silver Rose

The One

“The one… the one…”

Marina moaned. Her head felt like a horse had run over it. She wanted to fall back asleep, but something kept waking her.

“…one…”

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Instead of seeing her emerald green bed curtains, she saw broken glass and a wooden floor.

“You’re the one.”

She sat up with a start.

“Who’s there?!” She demanded.

Looking around, she realized with a shiver that she was still alone in Renata’s quarters. She tried to remember what she was doing on the floor, but everything seemed fuzzy. She started to get up, but cried out in pain when she put pressure on her left hand. Plopping back onto the floor, Marina held her left hand in her right. There was a big gash in her palm. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the ghastly cut.

“What happened? Eww! Go away!” She said to the gash, covering it with her other hand. Her left hand suddenly grew hot. Quickly, she pulled her other hand off of it. Looking down at her left hand, she gasped. The wound was gone! There wasn’t even a scar! It was as if she hadn’t cut her hand at all.

“The one… you’re the one…”

Marina jumped to her feet. Someone… somewhere… was whispering…

“The one… the one… you’re the one.”

And it was getting louder.

“…the one… the ONE… YOU’RE THE ONE!”

Marina covered her ears with her hands.

“Stop it!” Marina shouted. “I order you to stop!”

The voice became silent.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” She demanded.

She spun around, looking this way and that. She saw nothing but the books, the bottles, and that stupid mirror. The room was so small, who could hide from her? She lifted her head to peer up into the shadows of the high rafters. Someone could hide up there.

“I know you’re up there,” she shouted. “Come down, now!”

She needed a weapon. Looking around, she grabbed a spell book off a table. Holding the thick book in both hands, she shouted up at the rafters again.

“Come down by order of the princess, or so help me I’ll have your head for this!”

Nothing responded. Nothing moved. Marina stared up into the silent shadows.

“Did you hear me, you insolent brute?! I’m sending for the guards this very moment. When the king finds out, you’ll wish you were never born.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…”

Laughter.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

From behind her.

Heart pounding, Marina slowly turned around. She saw a dark haired woman in a dark yellow dress. Her face was full of fear as she squeezed a book in her hands, turning her knuckles white. Marina knew this woman. It was herself—in the mirror.

Pressing the book against her chest, Marina closed her eyes, and let out every ounce of air that was in her lungs. She really should be going. Renata would be back any minute, if she wasn’t already. She inhaled deeply. Maybe she’d been on the floor because she hit her head. That would explain the voices.

“You must have fell,” she said to herself, eyes still closed. “It was a really hard fall. I’ve been alone here the whole time.”

“You’ve never been alone.”

Marina’s legs quivered. Slowly, she opened her suddenly watery eyes. The mirror stood before her. But instead of her reflection, the glass had become black and murky. She began to breath short and hard.

“I’ve been watching you,” the mirror said.
Its voice was light and deep all at once. The sound of glass tapping glass filled her ears when it spoke.

“We’ve been watching you,” the mirror said. But this time the voice was definitely feminine.

Marina trembled.
“Who’s ‘we’?” She managed to squeak out.

The mirror laughed in both voices.

“Renata’s lord and lady, my child,” the first voice said.

Renata’s lord and lady! Marina clutched the book in her arms. It was all she could do to keep from falling over. This meant there were two things worse than Renata right there in that room with her.

“Renata’s not here.” Marina said. “I’ll go find her and—“

“The Lady Kyrin does not want Renata,” the first voice said. “She seeks only you, child.”

“Shad’s right,” the female voice said, “I’m not here for Renata. The Dark Lord and I have been searching for over four years for you.”

“What do you want from me, Lady Kyrin?” Marina asked.

“Your name,” Lady Kyrin said.

“M-my name? It’s Marina… Princess Marina Angelique Rose DeLaney.”

“Marina,” Lady Kyrin said. “Marina, who was your mother?”

“My mother? Queen Safie Leann Ranley DeLaney.”

“Do you have an ancestor named Mara of the Polante-Gnight?”

“Mara of the Polante-Gnight?” Marina repeated. “I don’t know. I can’t think of anyone on father’s side by that name.”

“On your mother’s side, you fool!” Lady Kyrin snapped.

A tear slid down Marina’s cheek. She tried to think, but she couldn’t. She knew so little about her mother’s family. In her studies, she’d only been required to learn her father’s ancestors. And when her mother did talk of her family, she only mentioned her grandfather, Doustan Ranley, and his father, Han Ranley, and his father, Wilton Ranley. It was the male lineage that counted, not the females. Marina knew nothing of her grandmother. Her mother never talked of her, and when asked, would only say, “My Mama was a good, loving woman. The best I’ve ever known.” Then she’d twist her necklace between her fingers and get this far off look in her eyes. When she came back from whatever she was thinking of, she’d quickly change the subject. Marina had always been too young to think to press her mother for more information. Now she regretted not asking.

Marina shook her head. What was she doing? She was talking to a mirror! She was afraid of a mirror! What could a mirror do to her? Even if the voices were from Renata’s lord and lady, they obviously couldn’t come through the mirror. If they could, they already would have. Suddenly, Marina wasn’t afraid. She lifted her chin.

“I don’t know anyone by that name, past or present,” she said.

“Don’t get smart with me girl!” Lady Kyrin snapped.

“I’m only telling you the truth. As far as I know, this Mara Polly Knight doesn’t even exist. And if you really want to know about her, maybe you should find someone who cares! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a nap in my own bed. Good day!”

“Don’t you dare turn away from me, insolent human!” Lady Kyrin yelled.

Marina puzzled over the “insolent human” comment for a moment before retorting,
“I do dare and I will! Oh, and have a lovely life. I do believe this will be the last time we ever meet. Farewell lord and lady.”

Marina curtsied and smiled.

“You will not be rid of us so easily!” A loud deep third voice shouted from the mirror.

Marina quickly straightened and looked at the mirror. Instead of murky black, she saw her own reflection. Then her breath caught in her throat. Behind her stood Queen Renata.

“Well, well,” Renata said, “so you’re the one the Lady has been searching for.”

Marina whirled around to face her.

“It’s a shame,” Renata said, walking over to a bookcase. “I had other plans for you before your demise.”

“What do you mean?”

Renata turned to face her.
“What do I mean?” She repeated. “You don’t have a clue as to whom you were just speaking to, do you?”

“Stay away from me.” Marina moved a couple steps back toward the mirror.

“I see you’ve inherited Elbert’s bad manners as well as his hair.”

“Guards!! Guards!!”

“They can’t hear you. As far as anyone else is concerned this room doesn’t exist.” Renata reached for Marina’s hand. “This can be our little secret, between friends.”

“We’re not friends,” Marina said, moving her hand away,

“Then from one beauty to another beauty.” Marina looked away. “What’s wrong? Don’t you know you’re beautiful?” Renata touched her cheek. “I’ve always known how beautiful you are.” Gently, but firmly, Renata placed her hands on Marina’s shoulders, and turned her around to face the mirror. “Look at yourself. Such a lovely complexion, so pretty. Just like your mother.”

“Everyone says that.” Marina said proudly.

“And it’s true. Only the most beautiful are fit to be queens like us.”

“But I’m not a queen.”

“You’re mother was. And you are like your mother. A queen’s blood runs through your veins.”

“I never thought of it like that.”

“Of course not. But I wonder, which one of us queenly women is the most beautiful? We can find out.”

“Oh I don’t—“

“Come now, it won’t take more than a minute. Look into the mirror.”

Marina knew she shouldn’t, but something in her couldn’t resist Renata’s words.

Renata chanted,
“Mirror, mirror tell me true. Who’s the fairest of us two?”

The glass of the mirror churned and swelled like a wave. Marina stepped back.

“What’s the matter?” Renata asked. “Don’t you want to know?”

“No!” Marina tried to turn to run away, but Renata still had her by the shoulders.

“Mirror, mirror I’ve one task for you. Consume the princess. Her life is through!”

Renata squeezed Marina’s shoulders and shoved her forward. Taken by surprise, Marina felt her feet stumbling toward the mirror. The black murky glass-liquid roiled and crashed against its ebony frame. It seemed as if it were licking its lips before a meal. She screamed. Renata’s hand moved to the back of her head. A moment later the sound of shattering glass rang in her ears as she ran into the mirror. Then she was floating. Floating in darkness. So this was death.

At first, all she could see was blackness. She felt as if she were weightless. It reminded her of being in water. She couldn’t swim, but when she was little, her mother would take her to Giann. Almost everyone there could swim and the children she played with would jump into the sea. She would get into the water too, but then they’d race out into the open waters and she couldn’t follow them. They knew she couldn’t follow them, and she knew they delighted in that knowledge. When her family went to Chasilin without her that summer when she was nine, she was taken to Giann. She stayed in the summer chateau alone but for her nanny, servants, and soldiers. It was the first time she didn’t have any of her family in a building with her. She wanted to play but there was no one to play with. So some children were gathered together to be her playmates for the summer. One day they all went swimming. The other children raced out to some island that was nearby, leaving Marina behind. Angry at being left behind by her family and now her supposed friends, Marina tried to swim after them. At first it was easy with the sandy ground beneath her feet, but then the ground fell from under her. Te water pulled her out farther away from the shore. She was pulled under. She thought of the feeling of weightlessness, of not being, of fear, and no control. She felt that way at that moment, in the blackness—just as she had eleven years ago.

Except this time she discovered she could breath. Marina took in a deep shaky breath. She flung out her right arm and her body turned to the right. She saw nothing. She did it again. Nothing still. After the third time, though, she found herself looking up at Renata. She screamed. Renata smiled. Kicking her legs, she felt herself moving backwards.

“What are you doing to her?” Renata asked gleefully.

Marina stopped screaming and kicking. Renata didn’t know? Marina stared up at Renata’s green eyes. She realized that she was looking at Renata through thick glass. And Renata wasn’t even looking at her. Her green eyes moved up and down, as if she couldn’t see what went on beyond the glass. Marina understood. She was inside the mirror. She thought Renata was going to smash her head against the glass, but somehow she had gotten inside the mirror instead. Obviously, that was what Renata had expected.

“Alive,” she whispered. “I’m alive!” She touched her face with her hands to be certain. Then laughed with joy when she felt her soft skin and cheekbones and lips and nose and eyes with her fingers. She was alive!

“I wouldn’t celebrate so soon,” someone said behind her.

She quickly moved her arm to turn around. But all she saw was darkness. Yet she recognized the voice as the first one that had talked to her when she had awakened from the floor.

“Shad,” the woman’s voice said, “Shad!”

“We have her, Lady.” Shad said.

“Excellent,” the Lady Kyrin said, her figure forming in the glass.

Marina looked at her red hair, olive skin, and slanted brown eyes. She guessed from Shad’s response, that Lady Kyrin also couldn’t see her. But Marina could see her, and although she knew she’d never seen the Lady Kyrin before, there was something familiar about her. And that familiarity made Marina more frightened than the sly smile that crossed Lady Kyrin’s face.

“Now kill her and then destroy the necklace!” Lady Kyrin ordered.

Marina gasped. She flung her arms about her frantically. She had to get away from the image of the Lady. But the more she moved her arms, the more tired they became. And she soon discovered she had barely shifted at all.

“I’ll destroy the necklace first,” Shad said. Marina let out a scream as a shadowy something in the blackness grabbed the pendant around her neck.

“No,” Lady Kyrin said, “the magic has awakened inside her. That’s why the blood was sucked into her hand. Magic generally recognizes other magic. Thus, the necklace may try to protect itself if you try to destroy it while its owner still lives. That is why we must demolish the person before the object.”

Marina had no idea of what they were talking about. In fact, she was having a hard time focusing on anything. Even with the shadow inches away from her, she felt more tired than afraid. The only thought in her head was that if he’d just let go she could lie down and… and…

“Yes, my lady,” Shad said.

Marina felt the shadow let go of the necklace, and she would have sighed with relief, except that the shadow now grabbed her neck. Between the shadow’s fierce grip, the terror that ripped through her being, and the yawn Marina was suddenly forced to swallow, she barely even squeaked.

“How’s it coming along?” Lady Kyrin asked as if they were having a polite conversation over tea.

“It’ll be finished shortly,” Shad answered just as nonchalantly. As the grip tightened around her neck, Marina realized the shadow must be Shad. Strange thing to think of while dying, she thought.

Bright colors burst before her eyes. Her breath barely came at all. She didn’t fight back. Her limbs felt so heavy. It was as if a wagon full of bricks were tied to each appendage. It didn’t matter. When it was all over, she would be asleep forever. That was all she wanted. Let Shad give her the one true heart’s desire she’d ever had… sleep… sleep… please…